Tag: autotuner

Odd tuner issue

Well that was annoying. I very rarely do phone so I thought I would have a go at the 50MHz UKAC today. I could only hear one station so called and… nothing. The audio from the FT450D went very quiet and no reply heard. I moved the dial and checked that the tuner had cycled and got audio back, so went back to try the station again. Same thing.

Then I noticed (I really need to move kit about so I can see it all at once!) the tuner having issues when I spoke. It had knocked the tuning right out.

Time to run some coax down from the fan dipole in the loft which is still there and has one dipole cut for 50MHz… I did catch the tail end of the station I had called talking to another station (not heard) saying I must have blown a fuse… yeah, well nearly that anyway! Oops.

New tuner

The latest toy, an LDG Z-11Pro II autotuner. I acquired this because I want to use the FT817 and a linear on the HF antenna from time to time – usually the only HF set is the FT450D which has a YT-1200 autotuner sat on top.

So why the new one? Primarily because the YT-1200 is matched to the FT450D and when the button is pressed it commands the rig to send 25W AM. The FT817 puts out 2.5W the way I run it and even if the YT-1200 would tune on just 2.5W I would need to press the button and then transmit via the radio. Ok, FT8 would do that but then there is the matter of fiddling with antenna connections to get the ‘817 connected to the tuner input. With the new tuner it’s more straightforward.

The YT-1200 will now be sold.

All I need do now is mount it somewhere convenient, and that, unfortunately means moving a bunch of wires and rigs and other stuff about until I get it all where I want it. So for now it will stay where it is!

Categories

Tags

2m 4m 5MHz 14MHz 21MHz 23cm 50MHz 70MHz Aerials allstar allstarlink antennas ARISS ATV autotuner CB creed 75 D-Star datv Digital EchoLink FT8 ft450d ft817 ft818 Intermediate licence ISS JT9 JT65 Meteors microwaves Network radio Portsdown QO100 QRM QSL RFI Rigs rtty satellites spectrum analyser SSTV teleprinter Winterhill zigbee

Recent Posts

Archives

Links

Virtual Valve Museum

Mastodon